The Rise of Man
by The Fabricator
Summary: In the cold world after Second Impact the kingdom of Gehirn stands strong under the leadership of King Gendo Rokubungi. However, the snow holds greater dangers than frostbite, both human and that which is decidedly not. Will Shinji Ikari and the kingdom he calls home be able to weather the coming storm?
1. Starting in a Storm

Thump.

A black haired skinny teenage boy with dark blue eyes was running across a rooftop.

Thump.

He landed on the next building over's fire escape after jumping from the roof, the ice crunching under his feet as he quickly climbed up to the roof.

Thump.

He landed poorly after his next leap, his knee sinking into the snow and the bag on his back rattling lightly.

He rose quickly and pulled up a small metal door on the roof, vanishing through it a moment later.

* * *

Chapter One

Starting in a Storm

* * *

"Did you get it, Shinji? Honestly, if you forgot you will be sleeping on the floor tonight. You kick in your sleep."

"Yes, Kaworu, I got the damn matt."

The pale ashen-haired teenage boy named Kaworu reached upwards and closed the trapdoor that led from the abandoned loft to the roof, halting the gentle drift of snow into the home he shared with his roommate.

Shinji gently hefted a duffle bag from his shoulder, opening it and removing a rolled up sleeping mat. The rest of the bag appeared to be filled with canned foods.

"Did you remember to nab yourself a blanket?" Kaworu asked with a smirk, eyeing the food-laden duffle.

In response, Shinji sighed.

"No, I forgot. I'll go get one now."

"No you will not. There's a storm coming."

Shinji reflexively peeked out a window at the coming twilight. Snow still silently fell across the city, the sky calm.

"Are you sure?"

Kaworu's forehead creased as he raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I'm sure."

Shinji sighed again before walking over to the coat rack he and Kaworu shared, pulling two coats off it to layer up for the night.

"Relax, Ikari," Kaworu chided his roommate, "You can have the blanket tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Assuming I get extra rations, that is."

And with a pop and a smirk, Kaworu opened a can of beans.

"Come on and eat."

* * *

...

* * *

Kaworu had been correct, Shinji mused as he watched the storm beating itself against the window to the loft. The wind had picked up almost as soon as the sun had set.

Shinji sat wrapped in the sole blanket he and Kaworu owned upon his new bed, an empty can of beans and an empty cup on the floor nearby. Kaworu for his part stood by the window in the coats Shinji had retrieved, still holding a can of beans and a dented pair of metal chopsticks as he stared out into the darkness.

"So you never told me how you did today."

Kaworu grinned at Shinji as he turned to answer his friend, depositing the chopsticks into the can of beans as he pulled a pouch from his pocket.

"Filched a thousand off a few people around town today," he stated as he tossed the pouch to Shinji with a jangle of coins.

Shinji opened the pouch and looked in, counting quickly. One thousand ten yen, or thereabouts.

"That's not what you're grinning about, I'm guessing?"

"Nope. You are going to love me even more for this."

"Sorry, but I don't love you. What did you get?"

Kaworu leaned against the wall of their loft, jabbing a thumb at the window and out into the storm.

"Well I heard a few rumors at the tea house. Supposedly there are some bandits preying on caravans headed west to Seele, the caravans are not coming back."

Shinji crossed his arms across his chest under the blanket and leaned back slightly.

"Well? That can't be all you wanted to mention, right?"

"Nope," Kaworu replied with a smirk.

Shinji sighed and fell back onto his sleeping mat, beginning to lose interest.

"Well I thought you'd be interested that in response, some knights are coming up tomorrow to check it out," Kaworu continued, returning to his beans.

There was a moment of silence in the loft during which the wind decided to howl louder.

"Knights of Nerv?" asked Shinji, his eyes now locked on Kaworu.

"Yep. Heard they have a few GSSDFs with them, too. The king is really cracking down."

Shinji was now sitting up with a wide grin on his face. There didn't seem to be any moment of transition between him lying down and sitting up.

"Okay, I think I'm going to need to consider liking you a bit more."

Kaworu's red eyes glinted as he smiled, sauntering over and plopping down next to Shinji on the other mat, his now empty can of beans left on the windowsill.

"Thought you might like that," he said as he lay back with his hands under his head as a pillow.

"Tomorrow is going to be a great day, I just know it."

A chuckle.

"Goodnight, Ikari."

Shinji sat up for a minute more, staring out the window into the storm.

And then with a click, he turned off the lamp and cast the room into darkness.

Tomorrow was going to be a great day.

* * *

...

* * *

Miles to the east a figure in silver armor lined with red plating on its torso and head stood staring silently into the storm.

Behind the armored figure were a number of tents frosted with white and two dying fire pits. The tents in the camps were sealed shut against the wind, all but one.

"Tomorrow's going to be interesting."

"Mm."

The man armored in white approached the man armored in silver and red.

"I noticed you still haven't set up your tent."

The silver and red knight said nothing at the white knight's observation. The two stood together in the storm for a few more minutes, neither saying anything.

Finally the white knight placed a hand on his companion's shoulder.

"Even you need to rest sometime, Sir Lone."

And with that, the white knight turned back to the camp and left the silver knight alone once more. Soon the last tent zipped shut, leaving all sealed against the snow.

A few minutes later and the white knight's footprints were gone. Still the silver and red knight stood as a silent sentinel in the storm, encrusted in snow and ice.

"Sleep well, Ryoji."

The silver knight did not speak again until sunrise.

* * *

...

* * *

The border city had been asleep for hours now. No one was fool enough to go out into a storm, especially not at night. A simple trip down the street could cost you your toes.

And so it was that no one heard those who came in the midst of the blizzard.

No one heard them as they came in from the west.

No one saw them as one by one they vanished in the storm.


	2. Men of Action

Shinji Ikari was cold. He didn't care. He had been born after the second impact when the world entered a new ice age. He'd gotten used to it.

Of course, that wasn't the reason he didn't care. The reason was seven meters below him in the street.

At ground level there marched seven warriors sent from the capitol. At the front and back of the group of SDFs were two of the famed Eva Knights.

"Who do you think they are, Kaworu?"

"I am afraid I could not tell you," Kaworu responded with a shrug, admiring the white knight walking through the street below with shield and lance.

"And here I thought you knew everything."

"Not yet, Shinji."

* * *

Chapter Two

Men of Action

* * *

"I can't believe it!" the small brown-haired boy whispered excitedly as he pushed his glasses up his nose, "That's a new gen Eva lancer! And they brought one out here! Oh I hope that we get to see it used!"

"Kensuke, calm down goddamnit," hissed the shivering girl next to him, her head wrapped in what looked like three scarves.

"Sorry, Eri," Kensuke sighed with a puff of frosty breath.

The boy with glasses and his companion stood knee deep in the snow on the roof for a few more seconds in silence as the procession headed their way, Kensuke's beaten up camcorder humming softly as it recorded everything. The camera nearly fell into the snow when its owner jumped a moment later as he caught sight of a knight in silver and red armor.

"That's an old Optima variant armor! See the battery pylons on the back? Oh and he's got an impact hammer! Oh man, I wonder if-"

"Kensuke!"

"Sorry."

* * *

...

* * *

"I think they're scouts."

Shinji turned to his roommate at Kaworu's observation.

"Scouts?"

"Well yes. There are two knights, but with only five SDFs I do not think they will be able to clear the western road all that easily. It is more likely that they are simply here to assess the threat."

Shinji paused, looking down on the soldiers slowly heading through the city.

"So they're just looking around?"

"Well, unless there are few enough bandits that they can simply clear them out, I would assume so. The last two caravans that vanished had hired guards, and still no one has returned."

"Probably a big band of bandits then, huh?"

"I would assume so."

* * *

...

* * *

Sir Ryoji Kaji hefted his large kite shield further up, keeping its bottom from scraping along the fresh snow deposited on the ground by the previous night's storm. The streets were fairly empty, the occasional person dashing across the road between buildings proving that no one wanted to spend any extended time in the frigid air after the storm.

Almost no one, Kaji corrected himself. There appeared to be a few figures on the rooftops jumping from building to building to follow them.

Ah, to be young again. Kaji silently thanked his armor for warding him against the cold.

"Alright," Kaji's voice projected from his helmet, "You lot remember the plan. V-com check."

"Check," came the voices of the five Self Defense Force scouts behind him, sounding a moment later inside his helmet after a second's delay. A short tapping sound emanated from Kaji's helmet's earpiece a moment after the checks, indicating that Sir Lone's had rapped his fingers against his v-com.

"Check," Kaji said into his own communications device, looking back and receiving a thumbs up from the five SDFs.

"Alright then," the SDF scout leader called to his men, "You two take the-"

There was a moment when Sir Kaji wondered why exactly the scout had cut off.

Then he turned and saw the axe blade buried in the soldier's abdomen. And the arm attached to the blade which led into a pile of snow which lay against the wall of what looked like a bakery.

"The snow drifts! They're-"

And then Kaji was cut off by a war hammer colliding with his face.

* * *

...

* * *

"Not good," Kaworu commented as the head scout fell, a frown upon his face.

Shinji could only watch from the fire escape in horror as the bandits rose from the snow around the small group of Gehirn soldiers. Two of the five scouts had fallen in the surprise attack, and a third was wounded.

"Well the white knight is back up, and big one is doing quite well," Kaworu observed.

The silver and red knight in the rear didn't falter at the ambush. As one of the attackers swung a mace at him the large knight grasped the man's arm and pulled him into a headbutt.

With an open faced helmet versus the silver and red knight's Eva helm the outcome was uncontested.

The attacker stumbled back and fell into the snow, his face a mess of red from his shattered nose. As the attacker fell the large knight detached his hammer from its place between the tube-like pylons on his back, swinging it down onto his opponent's chest as the hammer whirred to life.

**THOOM**

A shockwave sent a ripple through the snow a meter around the point of impact. The knight pulled his hammer from the corpse's chest revealing a bloody and shattered thorax before he engaged another of the nine remaining foes.

"That's incredible," Shinji whispered, awe evident in his voice.

"And we should probably move now."

"Wait, why?"

But Kaworu was already heading up the stairs. Shinji found out why a moment later as the silver and red knight's next swing sent one of the bandits flying into the air and into the fire escape. Shinji barely had time to curse as the frail, cold metal shattered and sent him falling to the story below.

* * *

...

* * *

"Whoa! Did you see that?" Kensuke asked his companion excitedly as the large knight's impact hammer punished the ground beneath its victim, his beaten up camcorder recording everything.

"Kensuke? I think we should probably leave."

"But the battle just started!"

"Kensuke," Eri said as she grabbed her friend by the collar and turned him to face her, "People are _dying_ down there! I do not plan on being one of them! Let's go!"

Kensuke silently noted that even with her face concealed by mismatched scarves, Eri's fury was only nominally subdued.

A screech of metal and a startled cry caught Kensuke and Eri's attention, both turning to see someone across the street from them fall as a body smashed through the platform he'd been standing on.

"Isn't that-"

"Kensuke!"

"But-"

Whatever Kensuke was about to say was cut off by a grunt as Eri pulled him across the roof by the back of his coat's collar.

* * *

...

* * *

"Hit me out of nowhere will you?"

The man who had hit Sir Kaji in the face didn't respond of course. He had just been punched in the face by a metal gauntlet and sent reeling into a concrete wall.

Kaji snorted a bit of blood from his nose and took a moment to see how the SDF scouts were handling themselves. The scout who had been stabbed in the leg and fallen into the snow was now staining the white frost red with blood pooling from his neck. The remaining two were fighting back to back, doing rather well against their three attackers. Seemed like the bandits only really excelled at striking from behind.

Which was when Kaji noticed there were more than ten attackers. A bit hard not to notice being stabbed in the armpit, really.

Kaji turned, his shield scraping across the snow as his left arm weakened. He noticed briefly that the woman who attacked him was left handed. It didn't matter much a moment later as the top foot of his lance split open into three prongs which he promptly stabbed into the bandit's chest.

Lifting her off the ground, still struggling on the end of the weapon, the white knight thumbed a switch on the weapon's handle. The end of the weapon began to rotate, spinning the bandit skewered on the end. He turned once more to aim the lance tipped with the swirling bandit at another enemy.

A yell from the wall of one of the buildings lining the street caught his attention for a moment as he saw someone wearing what looked like two cheap coats fell as the ground beneath him shattered.

"Sir Lone, watch your aim!" he called over his v-com.

It was at that moment that Sir Kaji was tackled by a particularly large man who appeared to be unarmed. Kaji's lancer then went off, firing the still spinning bandit and the two foot long trinity lance she was impaled on off into the cloudy sky.

* * *

...

* * *

Shinji Ikari wasn't having a great day.

Still, he supposed he wasn't dead.

The day was still young, though.

The first thing Shinji noticed was the pain in his back. Metal was rather hard, especially after falling a little less than four meters onto some.

The second thing Shinji noticed was the shard of steel flooring that was point down in the second floor fire escape mere centimeters from his groin.

The third thing Shinji noticed was Kaworu standing on what remained of the third floor fire escape, reaching a hand down and yelling something.

There were some crashes of metal from below and something that shot into the sky landing elsewhere in the city as Shinji shook his head to clear it. He pulled himself to his feet using the metal railing surrounding the platform he stood on to keep steady. He reached up for Kaworu's hand, but he couldn't reach.

It was at that moment that the second floor fire escape lurched lightly, the bolts securing it to the wall creaking.

Best Day Ever

Shinji looked up to his friend as the small battle continued below him. He stumbled slightly as the platform shifted again under his feet before bending his knees and leaping upwards.

There was a light slap of cloth and leather as Kaworu grasped Shinji's hand and wrist, pulling him up slowly. The stairs to the roof groaned as they sank under the weight of both boys. Shinji saw through a hole in the wall that the body which had slammed through the fire escape and dropped him was now sprawled inside someone's apartment and missing an arm as he and Kaworu quickly ascended them to the more stable rooftop.

"Thanks for the save, Kaworu," Shinji gasped out, looking down over the edge.

"Of course."

"You know, for a minute there I thought it was going to collapse under me."

"You watch too many movies, Ikari."

A crunch of stone alerted them to the fact that a fairly well-crafted war axe had somehow managed to wedge itself into the stone wall two meters below them.

And that was about the time when Shinji and Kaworu decided it would be in their best interests to go back home. Quickly.

"Hey Kaworu?" Shinji asked after a leap carried the two of them onto a balcony which they quickly climbed to a roof.

"Yes?"

"I think I enjoyed hearing stories about the Eva Knights more than I did actually being in one."

"Agreed."

* * *

...

* * *

Gehirn Strategic Self Defense Force scout Strasberg quickly leapt aside as his opponent's sword came down where he had been a moment previously. The blade slid through the snow and ice in a flash instead of his flesh, for which he was thankful.

However, he was not thankful for the metal boot to the stomach he received instead.

_Still_, he thought, _better than a blade._

Unfortunately the kick sent him back through the window of a building that was apparently home to a bakery. At least, he assumed that's what it was due to the ovens, smell of baking bread, and the portly man who was now backing away from him with a rather terrified expression on his face. The man may have also been backing away due to the fact that Strasberg's sword had flown from his grasp as he was booted through the window, sending it clattering dangerously close to the presumed baker's leg.

Scout Strasberg sat up, relatively unharmed from the glass shattering over him. Thank God for his armor and goggles. A few shards had wedged themselves into the fibers of his uniform. He tasted a bit of blood from where a shard of glass had gone through the cloth covering the lower half of his face and into his upper lip. Still, better than a blade.

Of course, his opponent was currently stepping through the broken window to make sure that Strasberg got a blade as well. Specifically the pointy end of a blade. Probably somewhere vital, too.

"Nowhere to dodge now, little squirrel," growled the voice of the man who was unusually well armored for a bandit.

And with that, the enemy warrior brought his blade down in a diagonal swing meant to slice through the space between Strasberg's helmet and collar.

There was a scrape of metal on metal as Strasberg raised his left arm and deflected the blow over his head with his bracer. It still cut through his glove and shaved a layer of flesh from the back of his hand, though. Using the opening, the SDF scout grabbed a particularly long and sharp looking shard of glass from the ground and stabbed it upwards through the joint in his opponent's armor between the armored plates of his thighs and pelvis and straight into one of the man's more sensitive areas.

His opponent quickly dropped to one knee with a cry of pain, which was all the opening that Strasberg needed to pull a knife from his boot and jam it into the man's exposed throat. With the threat taken care of, Strasberg pulled out his knife and retrieved his sword to return to the nearly finished battle outside.

"Sorry about the window," he told the baker as he picked up his sword and sheathed his boot knife.

As Strasberg stepped out of the shattered window into the colder outside air again, he saw the other remaining scout standing over the body of one of the bandits. He turned in time to see the white knight flash with orange light and send a screaming bandit into the stone corner of the building he had just walked out of.

A quick look around confirmed it.

The battle had been concluded.


	3. As We Were

"I think she's dead."

"It would appear that way."

Shinji and Kaworu were both standing on the roof of their home in front of the trap door into the abandoned loft.

They were also standing in front of a lightly smoking corpse which was currently sprawled across the trap door with a short three pronged spike jammed through its chest.

"So uh. Want to move it?"

"I saved you earlier. You move it."

With a sigh, Shinji cautiously approached the body. It didn't move.

Yep. She was dead.

* * *

Chapter Three

As We Were

* * *

"So like, just roll her over?"

"That would be the idea, Ikari."

Shinji grimaced as he reached down to roll the dead woman off the door to his and Kaworu's home. He recoiled a moment later as an electric shock surged through him the moment he touched her.

"Augh! What the hell?"

"Well that is a trinity lance round. They have electrical generators in them. I suppose that one is still active."

"Wait, you knew that and didn't warn me?" Shinji asked angrily, rounding on his roommate.

"I assumed you would know, seeing how much you love the stories about them. Anyway, just wrap your hands in the scarves."

Shinji mumbled something under his breath as he removed his scarf and Kaworu handed him his own. The woman was heavy due to her armor, but he wasn't lifting her. In a few seconds the body was off the trapdoor.

"We can move her off the roof when the lance runs out of juice," Kaworu said as he opened the door to their home and Shinji unwrapped his hands.

"I wonder how much the armor's worth?"

* * *

...

* * *

"Nine bodies down here, plus those two that you and Sir Lone sent flying somewhere."

"Thank you, Musashi. Asari is recovering the other two, I assume?"

Scout Strasberg shifted uncomfortably at the white knight's question. If Sir Kaji looked up, he would have been able to see the other scout outside of the cafe's window, standing over the splayed out corpses with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"Well, as of yet, no. I mean, we know where the fellow that Sir Lone hit went through, but we've not got the slightest clue where the other one is. You weren't very subtle with his disposal, sir."

"They weren't very subtle with their ambush either, Musashi," Ryoji responded with a sigh, looking up from the map he had been poring over and rubbing his eyes with his ungloved hand. "Anything else?"

"Well, yes sir. Two things, really. First off, they were rather well armored for band-"

"That would be because they weren't bandits," Sir Kaji cut in, "Well-crafted weapons, uniform armor on all of them. Not your average scavengers."

Well there went that news out the window.

"And the second thing?"

"Well, the armor they wore wasn't environmentally sealed."

"Meaning they were exposed to the cold."

"Yes sir. The bodies, even dead, are also resisting freezing."

* * *

...

* * *

Scout Keita Asari hated waiting. Waiting was boring. He had too much energy to just be standing around.

Also, he was cold. Damn cold. At least moving would keep him warmer. He jogged in place for a bit to warm himself.

At last his partner emerged from the cafe that Sir Kaji had 'borrowed' to be their temporary headquarters in the city. Keita smiled under his facemask when he saw Musashi was holding two white cups.

"One of those had better be for me, Stras," Keita called over the light wind as Musashi approached.

"Yeah, yeah. Drink up."

Keita gleefully accepted the warm beverage, pulling down his mask to reveal his mouth and taking a long swig.

"Ah, you bring the elixir of life."

"It's just coffee," Musashi replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Pretty crappy coffee, too, but I can't complain."

"Much."

"Eat me. So, orders?"

As if on cue, the door to the cafe opened once more and the white knight of Gehirn stepped out into the cold, once again clad in his full armor as a ward against the snow. Strasberg, with his back to the cafe, didn't notice.

"Sir Kaji wants to see the bodies of both sides and compare them. The two of us are to go recover the corpse from there," Musashi answered, jabbing a thumb towards the hole that had been blasted in the wall of the building next to the cafe.

Keita scratched at his head ineffectively through his helmet as he eyed the shattered wall.

"We'll have to use the inside staircase. The outside stairs are wrecked."

"Should be warmer in there. Thought you'd like that, Asari," Sir Kaji replied with a smile hidden behind the passive white face of his helm, joining the conversation and patting Strasberg on the back, causing the scout to jump.

"It'll be a nice change, sir," Keita responded, instantly at attention. "As you can see by comparing, sir," the scout continued, gesturing to the enemy corpses that were piled together rather unceremoniously and the three bodies of their fellow scouts nearby.

"The enemies appear to have some sort of biological modification to prevent freezing," finished the white knight. "Which of course means they could lie under the snow all day and not..." Kaji trailed off.

"Sir?"

"You two go get that body from across the street."

"Sir."

* * *

...

* * *

"Sir Lone, are you there?" crackled the voice of Sir Kaji into Lone's ear over the v-com.

Sir Lone's response came in the form of a grunt. He was rather busy at the moment.

"Central is the fastest way through the city to the west side, but they couldn't have known that was the only thing we were here for. They are modified to be cold resistant, so watch out. There may be more," Kaji continued at Sir Lone's assent.

"You don't say," Sir Lone replied as he stabbed the shaft of his impact hammer through the face of a man who had just attempted to kill him. "Why don't you get to clearing the rest of the city, then?" he growled as he pulled his weapon out of the new corpse and turned to its two allies, who were now backing away from the grey knight of Gehirn's gaze.

* * *

...

* * *

"So do you want to just roll it out of the hole in the wall or what?"

"Sounds good," Musashi said with a puff, closing the door to the outside as he and Keita entered the building where the last corpse they knew the location of had landed.

"Ah, indoor air!" Keita said with glee as the door closed, the temperature almost instantly feeling as though it had risen a few degrees.

"You realize we're going right back out into it, right?" Musashi asked bemusedly as Keita stripped off his helmet and one of his gloves before scratching furiously at his jet black hair.

"Don't care, had this itch for HOURS," Keita said dismissively as the two climbed the stairs, ignoring the curious looks they were receiving from residents of the building.

The third floor was notably colder than the two below it, most likely due to the fact that a large hole was now in the wall of one of the apartments on the floor. Also the door to said room was wide open. Keita quickly donned his helmet and facemask once more as Musashi shooed away the two civilians who were looking through the door at the hole to the outside.

"Huh," Keita commented as he and his partner walked through the door to the wrecked room.

"Huh," Musashi agreed.

Keita rubbed at his head through his helmet as he and Musashi stared out of the hole to the street.

The room was empty but for an arm on the ground.

* * *

...

* * *

"Think the lance round is out of juice yet?"

"I do not know, Shinji. Perhaps you should check?"

Shinji sighed and got a scarf from the old coatrack. Kaworu simply stirred a bit of snow around a chipped mug, melting it as he watched Shinji climb the stepladder to the rooftop hatch.

Shinji recoiled as the chilly air washed over him from outside. Ignoring it, he pulled himself up onto the roof. The raider was now coated in a thin blanket of ice.

"Well?" Kaworu called from below.

Grumbling to himself, Shinji reached out a hand towards the body.

A jolt ran through Shinji's hand, not nearly as strong as before, but enough to make removing the woman's armor more of a hassle than he was willing to go through at the moment.

"We'll give it a bit longer," he said as he closed the hatch to the outside.

* * *

...

* * *

"Sir Kaji, we've got a problem."

"What is it, Musashi?" the crackling knight's voice responded over the v-com.

"It looks like a local stole the body. This place is clear but for some blood and a hole in the wall."

There was a moment of silence before Kaji spoke again.

"Return to the street. Whoever did it might go for the rest. That includes our own."

"Understood," Musashi said over his v-com as he approached the ruined southern wall and looked out into the street. "Did you go back inside, Sir Kaji?"

"No, I went scouting. Out."

Musashi and Keita shared a glance.

"Aren't we supposed to be the scouts?"

"That's what happens when you work with knights, Asari. They like doing everything themselves."

"At least running around kept us warm," Keita griped, approaching the breach and looking down at the shattered fire escape. "Bet I could jump it."

"Let's just take the stai...Hey, Asari?"

"What, Stras?"

"I'm thinking that the body wasn't stolen."

"What are you on abo...Oh."

The two scouts stood at the edge of the breach, Keita slipping a knife into his hand too fast for Musashi to see where he had gotten it from.

By the bodies down below stood a raider frosted in snow. That was troublesome in and of itself, but what was the true cause for concern was that the man was missing an arm.

As the two scouts watched, one of the defeated raiders stood up from the snow, the hole in his throat closing itself.

"Asari, you're seeing this, right?"

Keita didn't reply, opting instead to hurl his knife down at the man who had just risen. The knife flew through the air in a perfect spin, the blade a flash of silver in the air. The knife proceeded to miss its target entirely and bounce off the front of the bakery that Musashi had been kicked into earlier.

The raider who had been stabbed in the throat watched the knife miss horribly before turning back to Musashi and Keita, flashing them a grin and a salute. Behind him the man without an arm picked his missing limb up from the ground and stuck it back on its stump. The arm stayed in place.

"We should run, Stras."

"Agreed."

The two scouts turned to find the corpse they had come up to retrieve.

Of course, the man was no longer a corpse.

His chest was still caved in from the blow that sent him through the wall. His arm was still severed just above the elbow. He was still covered in blood. He was also armed with a mace.

"Would you mind passing that?" the risen man asked as he gestured to his missing limb. His voice sounded oddly strained.

Keita carefully leaned down and picked up the arm, sighing in relief when the hand didn't grab him.

"Very good. Now give it here, would you?"

Keita tossed the arm towards the one-armed man, who looked up and fumbled with his mace as he tried to catch it with his elbow. Musashi took the opportunity to run forward and draw his sword from its sheath. The raider looked down, drawing back his weapon to strike.

He was too late. Musashi's blade caught the space between his bracer and upper arm plate, severing the raider's remaining arm just below the elbow.

"Oh, you son of a bitch! Are you kidding me?" the raider yelled at Musashi, his voice shaking with fury. The raider promptly kicked Musashi in the hand, causing him to drop his sword, and then the gut, dropping him to the floor where the man proceeded to stomp on him.

That was about the point when Keita struck the man very hard in the face with his own severed arm.

The now armless man stumbled back against the rattily papered wall, blood running from his nose. Musashi half stumbled and half crawled to his dropped blade, grasping its grip and turning in time to see the disarmed raider charging forward again. Musashi slashed out at the raider who promptly fell to the ground minus one leg and yelling obscenities. Musashi and Keita shoved through the small crowd gathered around the door to the hall, reaching the stairs in seconds.

"Wait," Keita said, grabbing Musashi as the taller scout started down the stairs.

"What, Asari?"

"They're coming up for us."

Musashi stopped and listened. From down below came the faint, but unmistakable sound of metal on stone.

"Sounds like...three? Can we take three?"

"Not if they don't stay down, Stras."

"So up it is."

* * *

...

* * *

Sir Lone, the Gray Knight of Gehirn, did not understand the strange rooftop travel that seemed to be so popular among the younger residents of the city. He was now being followed by at least six children, occasionally leaping from roof to roof and occasionally running across boards that had been set up for easier passage. Amazing that none of them fell through the ceilings below their feet.

Sir Lone gripped his impact hammer tightly as he walked forward with a slight limp, dragging its head through the snow. Far behind him were four bodies littered across the snow.

Before him was a wide, flat expanse of white. The frozen western sea. Eyes so dark as to be black scanned the sea from beneath the red-crested silver helm, ignoring the chubby ice fisherman currently regarding the gray knight with awe.

And there it was. The horizon was moving.

"Ryoji," Sir Lone growled over his v-com, startling the fisherman, "We've got a problem."


	4. Exodus

"What the hell is going on out there?" asked the young sleepy-eyed brunette sitting on the threadbare sofa, her eyebrows creasing into something that wasn't quite a frown.

"No idea, Eri," Kensuke answered, peeking through the window over Central Boulevard. "It looks like...oh."

"What?"

"There's some dead people outside. Oh, and there's the white knight! Where's my camera?"

* * *

Chapter Four

Exodus

* * *

"What the hell was that, Asari?"

"What do you mean?"

The two surviving GSSDF scouts were currently standing on the apartment building's rooftop. The stairwell door behind them shuddered as it was beaten by the marauders on the other side. All of which they had reported over v-com to the two knights. There had been no reply yet.

The two scouts peeked over the edge of the building near the outer metal stair. At the base of the building stood two of the formerly dead marauders.

"We were on the third floor," Musashi continued as he peeked down the stairs at their now fully healed enemies.

"I know," answered Keita, eyeing the lightly buckling door they'd jammed by breaking off the door handle.

"And they were across the street."

"What's your point?"

"Did you really expect that to work?"

"What do you mean?"

Musashi palmed his face as he leaned against the raised edge of the roof.

"I mean you throwing a knife at them!"

"Hey now, Stras, I'll have you know that my aim with a thrown knife is much better than yours."

"That would be because I don't throw knives, Asari. Especially not at that range. And how are we going to get off this damned rooftop alive?!"

Musashi said the last part to no one in particular and with a raised voice.

"Why don't we go across roofs like those kids from earlier?"

"Asari, those kids weren't wearing armor. No way we can jump that."

"Well no, but those two over there have a board we could use."

"What are you-" Musashi growled as he wheeled around to look where Keita was pointing.

Two people were on the next rooftop over, one clearly a child and the other rather tall. Both had black hair peeking out from under what looked like woolen caps and were wearing goggles. The tall one was holding a long wooden plank. The little one tugged on the tall figure's coat as it placed the board down, connecting the next building over with the apartment roof under siege.

"Hurry!" the tall figure called out in a warm male voice.

* * *

...

* * *

"It has been two hours. I think the lance is probably out of power by now."

"You said that last time, Kaworu."

Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa sat in their loft, very much unaware of the action going on outside of their home. Kaworu sat cross legged by a bucket near the cheap clothes rack, washing the more rank smelling garments the two owned. Shinji for his part was heating a small pot of soup over a small fire he had constructed in a bowl.

"If we just leave it up there, surely someone else will claim our prize."

"Fine, I'll check!"

Shinji set aside the dinner he was preparing and picked up his coat, bracing himself for his fourth foray into the snow that day. Buttoning up his coat and draping a scarf around his face, Shinji flung open the hatch to the roof.

He was greeted by a female voice speaking a language he didn't understand. The voice sounded irritated, or perhaps angry.

The voice also belonged to the woman who's armor he and Kaworu had been planning on selling.

What the _hell_.

The woman wasn't hard to spot standing on the flat roof. She was holding the three pronged trinity lance in her right hand and speaking into a black brick-like device with her left.

Of course, Shinji wasn't hard to spot either, peeking out of a door in a flat roof as he was. This point was quickly driven home as Shinji and the raider locked eyes, both wearing identical expressions of shock.

After what felt like several seconds but was probably closer to one, Shinji dropped back into his home, letting the hatch slam shut above him as the raider jabbered unintelligibly at him.

* * *

...

* * *

Musashi and Keita were now two buildings away from their pursuers, courtesy of the tall man and the girl with pigtails Musashi presumed was his daughter. The man had pulled up the board and taken it with him as soon as the two scouts had crossed, preventing the raiders from following.

"Thanks for helping us," Keita called for the third time over the growing wind to the man and child ahead of him.

"You came to help us," the man replied with a grunt as he hefted the board to the ground and placed it across the next gap, "We're just returning the favor."

The little girl crossed the board, skipping with a smile on her face as the tall man held the plank steady. He crossed next, carefully, before holding the board steady for the two scouts to cross.

"Hey Asari," Musashi said as he watch the tall man lift the heavy plank to his shoulder again, "Why the heck are you still carrying that guy's arm?"

"I was wondering about that myself, but I didn't want to say anything," the tall man added, eyeing the shorter scout with curiosity, and perhaps a mild distaste.

Keita looked at the severed forearm he was still holding by the wrist.

"I dunno," he replied with a shrug, "I might need it later?"

"What could you possibly need a severed arm for, Asari?"

"Giving people a hand?" the little girl piped up in response. There was a pause as the three men glanced at the smiling child with varying degrees of surprise.

"Is that..._normal_ humor for this town?" Musashi asked the tall man.

"Let's get moving."

"Hey, you didn't answer my question!"

* * *

...

* * *

Kaworu Nagisa was mildly surprised when his flat mate fell through the ceiling hatch in a panic. So surprised that he raised an eyebrow as Shinji's eyes caught his own.

"You seem perturbed, Ikari," Kaworu noted, hanging a shirt on the line strung between the walls near the coat rack to dry.

"She's not dead," Shinji panted out, eyeing the hatch to the roof with some fear.

"What?"

That couldn't be right. She was surely dead, the landing alone would have crushed many of her bones, let alone the electricity coursing through her chest.

"She's not dead," Shinji repeated, now looking directly at Kaworu, "and she saw me."

No hint of doubt in his face. Shinji was always so easy to read.

"She is coming?"

"I don't know!"

Kaworu quickly pulled the metal pole out of the coat rack, sending the dry garments on it tumbling to the floor in a heap. In a fluid motion, he tossed the pole across the room to Shinji.

"If she comes through, hit her," Kaworu ordered as Shinji caught the pole, pulling on some clothes from the pile on the floor. If the raider entered, they would need to flee quickly.

Sure enough, the hatch opened after a few seconds and a helmeted head peeked into the room. The raider's nose was promptly broken as Shinji swung the metal pole in his hands wildly and with a cry of fear. The raider lost her balance as she was struck, falling forward through the hatch and shattering the flimsy stepladder under it with her weight.

"Ikari, follow me!" Kaworu ordered once more, throwing open a window and stepping out onto the building's external stair. Hearing Shinji's footsteps hurrying after him and the raider struggling to her feet, Kaworu quickly made his way to the rooftop.

"Now what? She's still following us, especially now that I hit her!" Shinji said upon reaching the roof next to Kaworu.

Down below there was a clatter as the raider stepped out onto the external stair. Kaworu noticed a glint in her hand signifying that she was now armed, probably with a knife.

"We are going to jump to the next building."

"Wha-"

"Come on!"

And with that, Kaworu backed up and ran for the edge of the roof. He leapt through the air and landed lightly on the next building over some eight feet away. On the other side of the gap, Shinji took several deep breaths to steady himself. He broke into a fast sprint, nearing the edge just as the raider popped her head up from below the lip of the roof. Shinji jumped, one foot shoving off the edge of the roof as the other kicked off of the raider's head, knocking her helmet to the ground four stories below.

"Oof!" Shinji grunted as he slammed chest-first into the edge of the next roof over, instantly hooking his arms onto the building to keep himself from falling. Kaworu helped Shinji pull himself up as he watched the unmasked raider take a few steps back from the edge of the other roof, preparing to leap after the two teenagers. She leapt into the air just as Shinji got his legs up over the edge.

And like Shinji, she didn't quite make it.

The woman grunted as she impacted the next building over face-first, but managed to hook the fingers of her free hand over the edge of the rooftop. Shinji found himself marveling for a moment at her strength before realizing she was going to use that strength to try and kill him and Kaworu.

Kaworu on the other hand moved to the edge and looked down at the woman. He saw she wore her brown hair cropped short, and she might have been rather pretty if not for a deep scar running from her left cheekbone across the bridge of her nose. She didn't look more than ten years older than he and Shinji. Her knife was in between her teeth, freeing her left hand to help pull herself up. There was a pause as the raider's green eyes locked with the red eyes of the albino boy.

And then Kaworu jammed one of his metal chopsticks through the woman's gloved hand.

She cried out in pain and her grip loosened. Kaworu pulled the now red-stained chopstick from the back of her hand before kicking her fingers off of the edge. The green-eyed raider with the scarred face fell four stories to the hard ground below.

* * *

...

* * *

"So what's with the roof travel anyway?"

"Asari, hush," Musashi hissed at the other scout as they and the two civilians lay flat in the snow.

About twenty feet below stood two of the undying raiders. The group that the scouts and knights had slain were now fully reanimated and had split up to search for Strasberg and Asari. The raiders below had stopped moving and were now talking, their voices carrying well in the cold air. Neither scout had any idea what they were saying, however.

"Oy," Musashi whispered to the tall man, "Do you speak Seelian?"

"Yes."

"What are those two saying down there?"

The tall man looked up, concentrating for a moment.

"One said something about how he doesn't feel right after being stabbed in his..."

The tall man eyed the young girl who was now trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue without moving.

"...sensitive area. The other called the first one Gregor and said something about how two men stole one of his arms."

Musashi's mouth dropped open. Keita groaned softly.

"The two who probably want us dead most, of course. Is that all they said?"

"Well," the tall man replied with a shrug, "They were not quite so polite in their speech."

It took another two minutes for the raiders to leave, and another two before the four stood and moved again. Musashi took the opportunity to check the street as Keita twisted his helmet about on his head into a more comfortable position.

"Mister Mogami," the little girl complained as the tall man dusted the snow off of her, "I'm cold."

"We are almost home, Yoko."

"Can you carry me?" the little girl asked sweetly.

"Okay," replied the tall man, Mr. Mogami.

"We're clear on the street," Musashi told Mogami as the tall man hefted the small girl onto his back where she instantly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "We should probably part ways here."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Mogami asked, "My daughter likes to tinker, she may be able to fix your radio."

"What do you-" Musashi began, looking towards the small device at his belt as he reached absently at his ear. The v-com's casing had split open, and a small black chip was hanging from it by its wires. He hadn't thought about it until just then, but he hadn't heard anything from the knights since he'd been hit by the one-armed raider. He looked at Keita. Keita looked down.

The shorter scout's v-com was missing from his belt.

"Alright, lead the way," Musashi relented with a sigh. He hoped the knights were alright. This mission just kept getting better.

* * *

...

* * *

"Musashi! Asari! Are either of you still alive?" Sir Kaji called desperately into his v-com once again. Sir Lone was still alive, but besides the gray knight's occasional grunt he'd not heard anything else from him.

Sir Kaji lay slumped against the side of what had once been a noodle shop before it was abandoned. His shield lay across his waist limply, his earlier wound finally having disabled his ability to use it at all. In his right hand was his Eva lancer, its tip flat and empty of any lance rounds. Before him stood two of the white armored raiders, three of their compatriots pinned to the wall of the building opposite the white knight, pierced through the chest by the three pronged trinity lances Sir Kaji preferred.

But now he was out of lances, beaten down and tired. But a knight had to die on his feet.

Sir Kaji slowly shoved himself to his feet, using his lancer to help himself stand. He felt his strength waver, but he could not show weakness to his foes. They could not see his grimace behind his blank white mask. Sir Kaji raised his empty lancer and prepared to knock back the enemy. The two raiders paused in their advance for a moment. Only a moment.

And then they paused again.

There were voices approaching, many voices. Around the corner came a crowd of people, residents of the city. Most carried backpacks, or duffle bags, or suitcases, and all were dressed rather thickly. At the head of the pack was a blood spattered Sir Lone.

Sir Kaji chuckled inwardly as the two raiders stopped in stunned silence as the Gray Knight of Gehirn saw them and Sir Kaji.

Almost as fast as he had seen them Sir Lone charged forward, tugging his hammer from its mount on his back. The two raiders charged towards Sir Kaji, intending to take his life before the second knight could aid him.

Sir Kaji struck first. Even without a tip to the weapon, Sir Kaji's lancer was longer than the raiders' sword and axe. He swung the weapon horizontally through the air, the lancer's sturdy design more than capable of being used as a bludgeon. One raider ducked the blow and continued his attack while the other stopped, jumping back out of the weapon's reach. Kaji continued forward with his spin, using the rotation to swing his large shield up and slam it into the raider who continued the charge, dropping the man to the ground. The second raider drew back his axe for a mighty swing at Sir Kaji's now unprotected throat.

The raider never got the chance to strike, however, as the bones in his hands promptly shattered when Sir Lone's impact hammer crashed into them.

The raider stumbled back from the knights, looking in horror and pain at his shattered hands. His strange healing ability never got the chance to kick in as Sir Lone's impact hammer emitted a loud whine. The raider began to yell something in the language of the eastern Seelian empire before Sir Lone's hammer erased the man's face and, as the hammer released its energy a moment later, much of the man's upper torso.

"Come back from that," the gray knight growled, ignoring the horrified gasps and screams from the crowd of civilians. He proceeded to wash the head of his weapon with snow before replacing the black hammer onto his back where it clicked into place. Sir Kaji sighed as Sir Lone took the large white shield from his arm, relieving his weakened arm of the weight upon it.

"So Jeta, what is all this?" Sir Kaji asked, gesturing towards the crowd with his now unburdened arm.

"Evacuation," Sir Lone responded as he kicked the sword away from the downed raider who had not been killed, "There's a whole army of them coming across the frozen sea."

And with that, Sir Lone lifted the groaning raider by his chest plate with one hand and punched him quite hard in the face with his other, silencing him temporarily.

"Are we taking that one?"

"Prisoner," Sir Lone explained. "You should get that looked at," he added, eyeing the red stain under Sir Kaji's left armpit.

"I already wrapped it. Have you seen Musashi and Asari? I've been trying to contact them."

* * *

...

* * *

"Wait," Musashi ordered, holding up a closed fist.

Mr. Mogami, Yoko, and Keita all stopped behind the more serious of the two remaining scouts. Keita was still holding the severed arm he'd taken from the raider for whatever reason. Somehow the arm had still not frozen.

Musashi paused for a moment, listening for something. He then peeked his head just out of the alleyway, peering down the street both ways.

"Okay, clear," he said with some relief. Almost there.

Mr. Mogami took the lead again, heading down the street past four buildings, two of which looked abandoned, one crumbling and the other with boarded up windows, and one of which appeared to be housing some sort of market.

"Here," the tall man said, opening the fifth building's door and passing through. Musashi and Keita followed quickly behind, closing the door on the empty, snow-filled street once more.

Inside the building, Mr. Mogami lowered Yoko from his back. As soon as she touched the ground, she pulled the cap from her head and stuffed it into one of her jacket's pockets. Mr. Mogami reached down and pulled her goggles from her head before removing his own pair and cap, revealing tired brown eyes in contrast to Yoko's bright blue ones.

"We're on the fourth floor," Mr. Mogami informed the scouts cheerfully as he began to climb, immediately followed by the excitable little girl with pigtails.

"I don't mind at all," Keita replied cheerfully as he and Musashi began the climb. He immediately whipped off his helmet and itched at his scalp before lowering his own goggles and facemask as Musashi did the same.

As they climbed, it became apparent that the building had been originally two stories tall. The stairs to the third floor and beyond were made of a different wood, and seemed to be newer, if poorer in quality.

In a minute the four stood at the door to the Mogamis' home. Musashi shifted awkwardly as Keita stood straight, ignoring the stares he was receiving due to the arm he was still holding.

"Please, come in," Mr. Mogami offered as he unlocked the door.

"Thank you," Musashi answered respectfully before following his host inside, followed shortly by Keita.

Mr. Mogami's home was small, comprised of a bedroom, bathroom, and a living area with a small kitchen seemingly added as an afterthought on one side of the room. The doors to the bathroom and bedroom were closed, and the living area's furnishings consisted of a well-worn couch that looked as though someone had been sleeping on it, a short table, and a chair that had one of its legs replaced via home repair. Light was provided by a small non-opening window and a lamp in the corner. The table had a number of books on it. The small 'kitchen' was quite clean and contained a small stove and ice chest as well as a cabinet for non-perishables.

"Is your daughter in?" Musashi asked as he gave the room a cursory glance, "I would hate to impose on you longer than necessary."

"She'll be in in a bit," Mr. Mogami answered as he shut the door with a click, "But first I need to ask why you have been carrying a severed arm." Mr. Mogami stared Keita down quite calmly, though Musashi noticed his hand remained on the door's handle and Yoko stayed by his side.

"I figured you'd have gotten into that sooner," Keita responded with a nod, "Why now?"

"Because here we have numbers if you prove dangerous," came the simple reply.

Musashi remembered too late the number of people who had peeked out at them as they passed. To get out they would have to go down past four floors. He hoped Keita really had a good reason.

"Hadn't thought of that," Keita said with a sheepish smile. "Anyway, I was going to take it back to Tokyo-3 when we returned. Those people who attacked us don't freeze like a normal person would, and they got back up after we killed them, so I'm keeping the arm so the smart people can do tests on it. I've already proved that they can't grow back their limbs like other wounds, since that one fellow was still complaining about missing this."

Ah. So he actually did have a reason. Keita was smart, but sometime he just did things without a thought...

Mr. Mogami relaxed at the answer, his hand returning to his side. Yoko picked up this a cheerfully skipped over to the bedroom, entering and closing the door behind her. Through the quick opening, Musashi saw a it was furnished with a bed covered in a thread worn blanket and a wardrobe with chipped varnish. The top of the wardrobe and small sections of the floor were covered in oddly shaped metal...sculptures? Everyone had hobbies, he supposed.

"So until Aoi arrives," Mr. Mogami said as he placed a small kettle filled with water on the stove, "I think I would like to know what is going on out there."

"I wish I could tell you, sir," Musashi replied with a hint of a sigh.

"We were actually here about the missing trade caravans crossing the frozen sea," Keita explained, "We arrived, but before we could even cross the city we were ambushed. We don't really know much more than you, I'm sure. Sirs Kaji and Lone might have found more by now, but we can't contact them."

"I see," said Mr. Mogami, removing his coat and placing it over the back of the chair, revealing a wiry figure. He sat down on the couch just in time for Yoko to leave the bedroom and bounce down onto it next to him, having traded her coat for a sweater.

* * *

...

* * *

"Kaworu, this is such a bad idea," Shinji complained as he stood watch while his roommate hurriedly looted the body of the woman with the scarred face. She had landed heavily on the hard ground hidden under the snow, looking now like a broken doll. He was once again holding the metal pole from their coat rack, just in case she 'woke up' again while they searched for anything worth taking.

"Shinji, help me with the clasps to the breastplate," the albino boy responded, ignoring Shinji's repeated worries.

"Which one?"

"Right here, on the side," Kaworu directed, pointing towards a dented buckle under the once again dead woman's left arm.

Obediently, Shinji stuck the pole's corner under the bit of metal and pushed down hard. The buckle popped open immediately. With a grin, Kaworu pulled the front half of the chest armor off, pausing to examine the puckering in the cheap metal where the lance round had pierced it.

Shinji on the other hand was gazing at the woman's chest. More specifically, at the emblem emblazoned on the blood-stained uniform she was wearing just above what he supposed was a name tag. The symbol was of an inverted triangle containing six eyes with one more outside of it. It looked familiar, but Shinji couldn't recall where he'd seen it before.

"Hey Kaworu, do you know what this is?"

"It is a tag reading 'Kiese'. I suppose that is her name."

"No, no, that symbol just above it."

Kaworu paused, examining the patch. He seemed to recognize it almost instantly.

"That is the flag of the Empire of Seele," Kaworu instantly stated. It took a second for either of the boys to realize the implications.

"Do you think they're Seelian military?" Shinji asked, backing away a step from the body.

"I suppose that is possible," Kaworu replied with a frown. That didn't stop him from continuing to strip the white plates from the woman who might have been named Kiese's body. "Oh look, she kept the lance round you were trying to remove," Kaworu added, completely changing the subject as he pulled the long rod of metal from a pocket on the woman's leg, "Shinji, give me that pole."

Shinji obliged, still watching the fallen woman's face for any sign of movement. Kaworu took the pole from Shinji with a smile, producing a roll of tape from one of his pockets. There was a sound of tearing and moments later Kaworu was holding a makeshift spear, having attached the trinity lance to the end of the metal pole. It honestly didn't look very sturdy.

"Here," the albino boy said with a grin, handing the improvised spear to Shinji. As Shinji held the newly improved weapon, he noticed the three prongs were closed into a single point.

"How do you open this?" he asked his crafty friend as Kaworu searched for something in the snow.

"I am certain I do not know," Kaworu responded mechanically, his attention on the ground in front of him. He eventually exclaimed as he found what he was looking for, lifting a small black survival knife from the snow.

"Can we go now?" Shinji asked, noticing the woman's limbs appeared to be straightening themselves.

"Oh, alright," Kaworu replied without an hint of fear as he saw the same thing. He simply pocketed a coin purse he'd pulled off of their attacker and picked up four of the white plates he'd taken off her. "Shinji, would you grab the rest?"

"Alright," the meeker boy agreed, lifting the last two plates of armor with ease. He briefly wondered if the helmet was still in their home.

* * *

...

* * *

"This sucks," complained the girl who was completely covered in cloth against the cold but for her tired blue eyes and the thin line of pale skin still exposed to the elements. She had a duffle bag slung across her back, the container sparingly repaired with black tape.

"Buck up, Eri!" chirped her freckled companion as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, "We're on an adventure." Kensuke was covered up in a manner similar to his best female friend, though his scarf only just covered his chin, allowing some of his messy light brown hair to peek out from under his woven cap. His camera hung around his neck, opposite to the large pack on his back filled with travelling gear.

Up ahead strode the two knights he'd seen earlier in combat. Both looked a bit wearier for the wear, but both still stood, leading the mass evacuation of the city. He eyed the large hammer attached to the gray knight's back between the small black battery pylons behind his shoulder blades. It was glorious. And he had _photos!_

Kensuke didn't really understand what was going on, but everyone else was packing their things and following the big knight in the Optima armor, so he and Eri did as well. Asking around only got him the rumor that something dangerous was coming, so everyone had to leave. Quite a few of the people he had talked to had said they were skeptical at first, but after hearing the baker's story of the ambush on the knights (and the scouts, too, but they weren't NEARLY as cool) and seeing the big knight defeat the occasional brigand had inspired belief.

"Ken, could you please stop humming?" Eri groaned, hefting her bag higher up on her back.

"Was I humming?" Kensuke asked. If he had been, he hadn't noticed. Oh well.

"Sorry, that was me," corrected the older man to Eri's left, the off-tune music instantly stopping.

"Oh. Sorry, Kensuke," Eri apologized immediately. "Father, you know you're tone deaf," she continued with a voice of concern, turning to the older man. Eri's father scratched at his stubble and shrugged, his face splitting with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, Kensuke," Eri's dad suddenly said, looking near the boy, "I just noticed you mother isn't here. Is she well?" Kensuke, as always, completely missed the odd glint in the man's eye and Eri shaking her head.

"Oh, she's fine, Mr. Tanaka," Kensuke replied cheerfully, "She's just gone to Toyama on business. Otherwise I'm sure she'd be back there-" Kensuke paused to jab a thumb at the small crowd behind them, "-telling everyone what would be good to bring."

"Yes, she's always trying to be helpful," Mr. Tanaka added with a smile, shifting his gaze back in front of him while Eri simply sighed.

"Yeah, I guess she is," Kensuke agreed, grinning at Mr. Tanaka. And then he walked directly into the back of the white knight.

_Awesome!_ was his first thought, _I got to touch him!_

_Ouch,_ was his second as he fell back into the snow, his hand reaching for his nose.

"Where have you two been?" the white knight said to no one Kensuke could see. He marveled for a moment that the knight's voice was filtered through his helmet, giving it a mechanical tinge. The knight reached down with one hand to help Kensuke to his feet as he spoke again, "You're where?"

Inside his head, Kensuke squealed with delight. In the physical world his reaction was closer to a senseless gurgle.

_This is the best day ever!_

* * *

...

* * *

Mr. Mogami's daughter was kind of cute. The older daughter, Aoi, that is. Yoko was cute, too, but as a kid. Aoi on the other hand... She was tall like her father, but sleek, if that made sense. A bit messy, too, if her unkempt hair was any indication, but that was okay. And then there was her eyes, a light flecked brown veiled by her glasses, which were similarly repaired to the furniture in her home. Wonder if the spot below her lip is the only place she has a mole...

No, no, no. Musashi pushed that line of thought out of his mind in an instant. He was on the job, he would remain professional.

He took a sip of the tea Mr. Mogami had offered him while they waited for Aoi. No sooner had he sat down with his cup when she had barged through the door, her face still red from the cold. Musashi noted her hair was secured back in a bun by what appeared to be a metal nail.

There had been an awkward pause as the girl noticed the two armored guests in the cramped living area. Who were quickly regarded as irrelevant and ignored, Aoi not caring to ask about their presence as she politely informed her father that the market was out of the fish he liked and put away the small number of groceries she had picked up at the market.

She had removed her coat and poured herself some tea before Mr. Mogami asked her to take a look at Musashi's broken v-com. Apparently she had repaired three before (well, two, the first one died and had to be repaired again), but never a modern SSDF model. Still, she had said with a sweet smile, she would do her best. That was when she took the broken device, as well as her tea, and sealed herself in the bedroom, which apparently contained a small workbench.

Musashi briefly wondered if she always swayed her hips lik-

Goddamnit.

And so it was that Musashi closed his eyes and waited while Keita regaled young Yoko with tales of his gallant bravery, the little girl staring up at the young scout with awe as Mr. Mogami simply smiled.

Time ticked by without any word.

And then he heard the familiar voice of Sir Kaji.

"-re insane, you know that?" crackled the voice of the white knight.

A grunt in response over his earpiece, signifying the presence of Sir Lone.

Aoi peeked her head out of the other room, holding a still beaten up, but now functioning v-com. She pushed her glasses up her nose with what looked like an improvised screwdriver.

"Pretty sure I fixed it," she said, handing over the small device and entering the room to plop down on the other side of Yoko, placing the girl between her and her father.

"Thanks," Musashi responded with a sigh of relief, accepting the small device. "Sirs, can you hear me? This is SDF Musashi Strasberg. SDF Asari is with me."

"Where have you two been?" the white knight's voice crackled over the small speaker in Musashi's ear. He thought he heard a bit of worry in Sir Kaji's voice.

"Fleeing, sir," the elder scout responded, the confusion on the Mogamis' faces fading as they realized he was already on the com. "The bandits from the initial ambush weren't dead. We are currently..." Musashi placed a finger across the v-com receiver and turned to Mr. Mogami. "Where are we?"

"You're where?" Sir Kaji asked as Mr. Mogami whispered quickly into Musashi's other ear.

"An old housing building somewhere in the old town," Musashi answered, removing his finger from the receiver, "There are people here."

"Where's Asari?"

"He's here with me. He lost his v-com while we were being chased."

"Alright, I need you to relay this to him. Sir Lone says there's an army of those raiders...soldiers...whatever they are! He says there's an army of them crossing the frozen sea."

It took a few seconds for what Sir Kaji had just said to sink in. Before Musashi could react, Kaji was speaking again.

"We're evacuating the city," the white knight continued, "Spread the word and head east. We're taking the road to Matsumoto-2. Try to- More of them! Civilians, move ba-!"

There was a sound of metal on metal and Sir Kaji's voice cut off. Musashi immediately rose to his feet and peered out the window towards the ground as best as he could.

"We need to move," Musashi told the others. He proceeded to give them the short version.

* * *

...

* * *

Shinji Ikari was about to die.

Again.

Today sucked.

"We're not with them! We're Gehrin!" he cried at the giant of a man in the red-crested silver armor, the knight's black war hammer hovering over the skinny boy's head. The hammer was giving off an ominous hum, Shinji noticing that his hair was standing on end for another reason than fear or cold.

Kaworu stood pressed against the wall, the white chest plate he had nicked from the Seelian hanging across his body in a poor fit, the two bracers on his arms. It had seemed the easiest way to carry it at the time.

"Jeta, they're just kids," the smaller knight in white plate of a different make than the Seelian armor said, his hand on the giant's arm.

A moment passed where Shinji thought the knight he'd been so excited to see a few hours ago was going to smash him into paste anyway.

And then the Gray Knight of Gehirn turned and walked away, slinging his hammer back over his shoulder. The white knight sighed as his more violent companion stomped the chest of one of the dead Seelians who had been chasing the two boys.

"Sorry about him," the white knight said to the boys, offering Shinji a hand up. "You really shouldn't be wearing that," he continued while they walked towards the confused crowd of evacuees, "Where did you get the armor?"

"We killed one of them," Kaworu answered matter-of-factly.

"Did you?" the kind knight responded with a tone of curiosity. The boys couldn't tell due to his helmet, but the knight was watching them with some interest. A confident albino boy and his shaken comrade.

"She fell off our roof," Shinji explained, his voice not quite yet steady after being chased and the large knight's subsequent attack.

_Ah_, Sir Kaji thought to himself, _Just like the post-impact rebellion_.

"Well, we're evacuating the city," the white knight said as he and the two seventeen year olds rejoined the front of the now moving group, choosing not to comment on their kill. "How far away do you boys live? Can you grab anything you need and get back here quickly?"

Shinji and Kaworu shared a glance.

"Well, whatever you decide," the knight called back, having left them for the front.

"Hey, Ikari!"

Shinji looked to his right to see who it was that was calling him, soon spotting a spectacled boy with a large backpack waving him over. Shinji went to meet his friend, Kaworu following behind.

"Kensuke, how are you?" Shinji greeted his friend. "Oh, hi Eri," he added upon noticing the heavily bundled girl keeping stride with the geeky boy. Both greeted Shinji, Kensuke being noticeably more cheerful with his.

Kaworu said nothing, and was completely oblivious to the nervous looks he was receiving due to his choice of armor, or perhaps he didn't care. Kensuke did care, though.

"Whoa, Kaworu, where'd you get the armor?" he asked, immediately raising his camera and snapping a picture. Behind him, Eri simply shook her head.

"From one of the Seelian soldiers," Kaworu replied, looking around at the mass of Komatsu's citizenry.

"Seelian soldiers?" Kensuke asked, confused, "That can't be right."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"Well," the military buff responded, "The Empire of Seele has military bodies for each of the states that make it up, but there's not been an imperial army for ten years. It was part of a treaty."

"A treaty with who?"

Kensuke thought for a moment.

"Gehirn and Sorhyu, I think," he finally answered, still sounding a little unsure. He knew more about fighting a war than ending one.

"Hey Kaworu, aren't you from..." Shinji began, trailing off when he saw the albino boy was missing. "Where'd he go?"

"He left while you two were talking about armies," Eri answered, "He said he was going to get some things from your home before we got too far away."

* * *

...

* * *

It turned out that the building the Mogamis lived in was the most densely populated in the old town, and even it only housed under forty people. As such, the evacuation of the area went rather quickly for the most part (though there was one woman who refused to leave without bringing her ceramic kitten collection). It also explained the complete lack of raider ambushes.

Unfortunately, the lack of any visible raiders didn't do much for the evacuees' confidence in the scouts' claims. Still, they were SDFs, so the people followed. _Obey the military_ was an unspoken rule in the country.

"So why Matsumoto-2?" Mr. Mogami had asked as he walked with his neighbors after the two scouts, Yoko clinging to Aoi's hand as they walked beside him. It had stopped snowing by this point, but the sky was still ever covered by clouds.

"Probably because it's a transport hub," Keita helpfully supplied, "You'll be able to go wherever from there."

"And if we don't have anywhere to go?" Mr. Mogami countered, speaking so that only Keita heard him. He received no response.

"Do you hear something?" asked Musashi, slowing in his stride.

Keita did. Footsteps, a lot of them. A throwing knife was instantly in his hand, pulled from a slot in the bracer encircling his forearm.

The sound of the footsteps gradually increased as they got closer. It was clearly a large group of people. Sure enough, from around the corner up ahead of the two scouts and their group came the two knights and their flock.

"We see you," Musashi spoke into his v-com after tapping the receiver on, relief barely evident in his voice.

"Finally," Keita said with a smile, patting Musashi on the shoulder, "Let's go before we get hit again."

It didn't take long for the two groups to meet and blend together. It took a bit longer for Keita to get over the fact that the knights' group had one of the Seelians bound and gagged in the back of a cart. As Sir Lone had noted, just because they could regenerate didn't mean they were any stronger than your average man.

"Can't believe it..." Keita muttered for the second time, no longer carrying the severed arm he'd held for several hours. "I carry that around all day, and they don't even bother to mention they captured a whole specimen..."

"Well," responded Musashi, marching beside his fellow scout at the back of the group, "It's not like we-"

"It's not like we could have carried a whole bad guy with us," Keita complained, oblivious to the fact that Musashi was about to say the same thing, "We don't have power armor like those two, we couldn't haul one around with us. It's just not fair. What do you think, Stras?"

Musashi ignored Keita, flashing the smaller scout a quick glare. Keita didn't notice and continued to complain. It was going to be a long hike to Matsumoto-2.

* * *

...

* * *

"And there they go."

One of the raiders watched as the surviving Gehrin soldiers and their little regiment of civilians marched themselves out of Komatsu. Mission was a success, all in all.

"Do you want to call it in, or should I?" asked a man with one arm standing next to the other.

"I'll do it," the first raider responded, turning down the road as he flicked on his v-com and dialed in a frequency. "This is Corporal Gregor. Komatsu has been cleared."

There was a short pause as whoever was on the other end of Gregor's v-com responded. Gregor glanced down at the red mess of a body staining the trampled snow of the main road.

"No. Sergeant Potter is dead. I do not believe he will be returning, with or without aid."

Another pause.

"Thank you, sir."

"What is it?" asked the one-armed soldier.

"I got a promotion," Gregor replied with a shrug. "Alright then, Geld, let's see who else we lost."


End file.
